Narrowing the gap: Factors driving organic food consumption

Abstract

In the recent years, organic food has gained a great attention from researchers, yet the consumption amount and growth in the market share is relatively low compared to conventional food. The most consistent findings from previous studies have been the inconsistency between consumers' claims and their actual behavior – the so-called intention-behavior or attitude-behavior gap. The majority of past studies focused on investigating the motivational factors to purchase organic food as a proxy to foster organic food consumption. However, it is argued that preceding studies' focus does not readily embrace the consumption itself where purchasing may come secondary to consumption decision/motivation. The objective of this paper is to propose a new approach to determine factors influencing organic food consumption by focusing on those who are consuming and not those considering purchasing organic food. Indeed consumption is a more appropriate measure not confounded with shopping habits. Consumption also reflects high involvement with the product; and the barriers and motivations are as real as the product itself, which makes it an ideal moment to examine the motivation. A model that was developed was tested using the Partial Least Square statistical analysis of an empirical sample of 133 consumers. The results indicated that product-specific attitude (PSA), sensory appeal (SA) and health orientation (HO) had a significant positive influence on individuals’ organic food consumption. The moderating role of future orientation between PSA, HO and consumption were examined and found to be significant. The result suggests that PSA and HO are stronger when future orientation is high. The research provides a significant insight and better understanding of narrowing the attitude-behavior gap. It also adds a new momentum to the growing literature and prior findings on consumer behavior towards organic foods.